CHARLESTON — Health care coverage for employees of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs is set to expire next week, the same day the historic resort is set to go on the auction block.

According to The Real WV, a state-focused online news website, Greenbrier employees received a letter Monday from attorneys for Amalgamated National Health Fund informing them the Greenbrier was four months behind in contributions to the hotel’s health fund.

According to Ronald Richman, an attorney with the New York-based law firm Schulte Roth and Zabel, the Greenbrier is behind on its health plan contributions to the tune of $2.4 million, plus another $1.2 million if not paid by the deadline of Aug. 27.

“If payment is not timely made, the Health Fund will suspend health and welfare coverage to all of the Greenbrier’s covered employees,” Richman wrote. “The Health Fund will pursue all remedies available to it, including, but not limited to, initiating litigation to recover the full amount of the delinquent contributions, plus interest, liquidated damages and attorney’s fees….”

Richman said in his letter that the Greenbrier’s delinquent contributions include employee contributions that were deducted from paychecks, but not remitted to Amalgamated National Health Fund. The Greenbrier has approximately 2,000 employees and is the largest employer in Greenbrier County. A request for comment from representatives of the Greenbrier was not returned.

Aug. 27 is the same day the Greenbrier is set to be auctioned on the steps of the Greenbrier County Courthouse following its foreclosure earlier this month. According to WV MetroNews, Justice’s adult children, Jill and Jay Justice, filed for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction Monday morning in Greenbrier County Circuit Court to block the auction.

JPMorgan Chase Bank transferred what was left of a $142 million loan Gov. Justice took out in 2014 on the Greenbrier to Maryland-based Beltway Capital Management and McCormick 101 LLC on July 2, declaring the loan in default after Justice was unable to pay the full amount by the June 28 maturity date.

Justice, who claims without any evidence that the transfer of the loan from JPMorgan to Beltway Capital/McCormick 101 was politically motivated to harm his U.S. Senate campaign, said the loan had been paid down to $9.4 million and was current as of June.

In a separate court case filed July 18 in New York, Beltway Capital/McCormick 101 is seeking $40.3 million plus interest and late charges accruing since July 15 from Justice, James C. Justice Companies Inc., Justice Holdings LLC, GSR LLC, Wintergreen Partners Inc. and the Greenbrier Hotel Corp. Beltway Capital/McCormick 101 specializes in purchasing distressed loans backed by collateral, such as property.

JPMorgan and Justice had entered into six amended forbearance agreements since 2014, with the two parties coming to a new mutual agreement in 2021 after Justice pledged a second lien position for the resort behind Carter Bank to obtain better terms on the JPMorgan loan. The most recent amended forbearance agreement occurred on Dec. 29, 2023.

According to an April 2 letter sent to Gov. Justice’s home in Lewisburg from JPMorgan, multiple defaults by Justice caused the remaining loan amount to become immediately due. But Jill and Jay Justice contend that they now have the majority stake in the Greenbrier and were not parties to the original 2014 loan agreement between Gov. Justice and JPMorgan. They also argue that sale of the Greenbrier would severely harm the local economy.

“…The public interest weighs heavily in favor of enjoining the sale,” wrote Steven Ruby, the attorney presenting the Greenbrier Hotel Corp. and Jill and Jay Justice. “The Greenbrier and its affiliated entities are the lifeblood of Greenbrier County’s economy, directly employing nearly 2,000 people and indirectly supporting hundreds of thousands of additional jobs.”

Delinquent health care contributions are not the only debts facing the Greenbrier. According to tax records held by the Greenbrier County Clerk’s Office, Greenbrier Hotel Corp. owes more than $2.7 million in tax liens and penalties for unremitted consumer sales and use taxes and withholding taxes as of the end of July, as well as owed interest and penalties.

Justice bought the Greenbrier in 2009 from rail company CSX. Since Justice first took office in 2017, Jill Justice runs the Greenbrier while Justice serves as governor, though Justice is still listed as CEO.

Justice, now wrapping up the last five months of his second and final term as governor of West Virginia, is the Republican nominee for Senate in November, running for the seat of the retiring Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va. Justice faces former Democratic Wheeling mayor Glenn Elliott in the general election.

The Greenbrier is one of 147 assets listed on Justice’s U.S. Senate financial disclosure report and one of 108 companies listed on his 2024 financial disclosure report with the West Virginia Ethics Commission, though it is not one of the eight companies held in a blind trust.